Screamer

Screamers are a new type of zombie in Dead Island: Riptide. Also known as Siren in Escape Dead Island. These zombies have the ability to emit a loud, piercing shriek that can blur the vision of the player and knock the Heroes down. To make matters worse, their ear-piercing scream will draw Infected and Walkers to the player, who is unable to react unless they move out of the wide range of the Screamer's scream. One is first met during a cutscene when a ferry arrives to Pinai Ferry Station after going through most of a Zombie Horde attack as the boss before taking the ferry to Henderson. They are then later found in various parts of the city as well in Dead Zones.

Contents

Appearance

The Screamer has two variants. Both appear to have been test subjects seeing that their brains are literally exposed as well as a large metal head brace. There is a possibility that the Screamer was previously institutionalized in a psychiatric ward. This idea is reinforced due to the broken restraints upon their wrists. Additionally, the headgear/restraint denies them of closing their eyes (while humanly alive).

The Screamer bears white hair, which can give away the victim's age as being around their 40's or older, though this could also simply be for its design. One variant of the Screamer wears a tattered green dress which is ripped and exposes their internal organs as bodily damage.

The second variant appears with no shirt nor dress but green slacks/pants. This variant of the Screamer bears the same wounds about their abdomen as their "dress" brethren while adding a few changes to its physical appearance. Green pants replace the tattered green dress, visible stitch-work is present around the shoulders and chest while the aureola are missing. They appear to have to been surgically removed from the body as opposed to being eaten, further showing the fact that they were experimented on.

In Henderson they are easily hearable due to their high-pitched shrieks.

Tips

Unlike most other enemies, Screamers are only mildly vulnerable to headshots from firearms. Though the damage from headshots is increased, it is increased by a much smaller amount than with other special zombies.

Dodging while under the effect of a Screamer's scream has a random chance to cause the Hero to fall. This can actually work to the Hero's advantage, as Screamers (and other zombies) will stop attacking until the Hero gets back up, at which point the scream's effect likely will have cleared. Falling in this way causes no damage or stamina loss.

Trivia

The Screamer's functionality and appearance are very similar to Sirens, an enemy from Killing Floor.

As seen in one of the gallery images below, the Screamer was also the name used for a prototype Special Infected character intended for inclusion in Left 4 Dead. The character in that game was said to serve a purpose similar to that of the Screamers seen in Dead Island: Riptide, in that he would alert other zombies to the player's location until defeated. A difference between the two games would have been that the Screamers in Left 4 Dead were intended to flee from the player once they had been encountered by them, making it more difficult to silence them. Ultimately they were cut from the final release of the game due to fear that players would be too confused in attempts to track them down in the middle of a much larger horde of infected.